General Trend:
- China Securities regulator said to eye certain margin financing (financial press)
- Property index leads early declines in China
- Transports and Financials weigh on the Japanese markets
- China’s trade surplus with the US narrowed in Feb
- Japan Q4 GDP revised higher on business spending (as expected), private consumption revised lower
- Asian government bond yields trade generally lower after ECB.
- AUD/JPY drops over 0.5%, JPY broadly firmer
- Taiwan Semi Feb Sales -5.8% y/y
- AU Optronics Feb Sales -8.4% y/y
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened -0.5% at 6,230
- (AU) Australia sells A$900M v A$900M indicated in 2.50% May 2030 bonds, avg yield 2.0677% v 2.1472% prior, bid to cover: 3.41x v 3.39x prior
- (AU) NAB sees two Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) rates cuts in 2019 vs expectation for RBA to leave rates unchanged over the forecast horizon (prior view); Becomes second big Aussie bank to call for rate cuts in 2019
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND Q4 VOLUME OF ALL BUILDINGS Q/Q: 2.7% V 1.0%E
China/Hong Kong
- Shanghai Composite opened -2.2%, Hang Seng -1.3%
- (CN) Chinese officials reportedly becoming wary of quick trade deal; persuading Pres Xi to attend Mar-a-Lago summit is ‘no easy task’ – NY Times
- (CN) Pres Trump: China trade talks are going ‘pretty well’
- (CN) CHINA FEB TRADE BALANCE: $4.1B V $26.2BE (smallest trade balance since March 2018); Exports Y/Y: -20.7% v -5.0%e (largest decline since Feb 2016)
- (CN) China said to punish certain lenders for channeling money into stocks – State Media
- (CN) China Securities regulator’s Guangdong branch reports it is closely monitoring grey-market margin financing – press
- (CN) Certain large cities in China said to have cut taxes on property sales – China Securities Times
- (CN) China PBoC Sets Yuan Reference Rate: 6.7235 v 6.7110 prior
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips OMO (7th consecutive skip); Net: 0 v CNY0 prior
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -0.5%
- (JP) Japan March Nikkei Futures and Options expected to settle at around 21,348
- (JP) JAPAN Q4 FINAL GDP Q/Q: 0.5% V 0.4%E; ANNUALIZED Q/Q: 1.9% V 1.7%E
- (JP) JAPAN PRELIM BOP CURRENT ACCOUNT ADJUSTED: ¥1.8T V ¥1.4TE; BOP CURRENT ACCOUNT BALANCE: ¥600.4B V ¥161.0BE
- (JP) JAPAN JAN PRELIM TRADE BALANCE (BOP BASIS): -¥964.8B V -¥1.1TE
- (JP) JAPAN JAN HOUSEHOLD SPENDING Y/Y: +2.0% V -0.5%E
- (JP) Japan top currency official Asakawa: Downside risks in global economy persist due to China-US Trade war; reiterates always monitoring FX market and stand ready to respond to excess volatility and disorderly moves
- (JP) Japan Finance Min Aso: Not thinking about any new economic counter measures, we are not in a situation of needing extra measures
- (JP) Former BOJ Official Yamaguchi: Risk of Japan slipping into a recession is not small, BoJ could consider additional easing as global headwinds hurt exports and economy
Korea
- Kospi opened -0.6%
- (KR) South Korea Automobile Manufactures Association: US made cars sold in Korea in 2018 up 8.2% y/y
- (KR) South Korea President Moon approval rating declines to 46% v 49% prior – Gallup Poll
- (KR) South Korea Jan Current Account Balance: $2.78B v $4.82B prior; Balance of Goods (BOP): $5.61B v $6.53B prior
Other
- (PH) Philippines Central Bank (BSP) official Guinigundo: Reserve ratio requirement (RRR) cut always on the table, timing is the issue; notes ample liquidity in financial system
- (PH) Philippines Central Bank (BSP) newly named Gov Diokno: Reiterates reserve ratio requirement (RRR) is still too high.
North America
- (US) Fed’s Brainard (voter, dove): has revised down 2019 economic outlook on increase in risks; it’s appropriate to wind down runoff later in year – comments in NJ
- (US) Fed Chair Powell to appear on ’60 Minutes’ on Sunday 3/10 – press
- (US) Dow Transports decline for 10th straight day, equals record losing streak – FT
Europe
- (EU) ECB ANNOUNCES NEW TLTRO PROGRAM: Announces new series of two-year TLTROs to start in Sept 2019, ending in 2021
- (EU) ECB’s Draghi: New ECB measures are adding accomodation; decisions taken following the revised Staff Projections to increase resilience of Euro Zone
- (EU) Reportedly ECB opted for more radical easing measures today only after growth projections showed a bigger than feared economic slowdown – press
Levels as of 12:50 ET
- Nikkei 225, -2.2%, ASX 200 -1.0%, Hang Seng -1.5%; Shanghai Composite -3.2%; Kospi -1.3%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.3%; Nasdaq100 -0.3%, Dax -0.3%; FTSE100 -0.3%
- EUR 1.1202-1.1179 ; JPY 111.70-111.21 ; AUD 0.7029-0.7005 ;NZD 0.6772-0.6746
- Gold +0.2% at $1,289/oz; Crude Oil -0.7% at $56.27/brl; Copper -0.5% at $2.899/lb
